Holding Me Up
by newportz-princess
Summary: Just what Ryan Atwood needed: being harassed in a grocery store by a presumably mentally unstable woman. RT. AU.


**Disclaimer: I wish it was, but sadly, The O.C. is not. If it were, Johnny, Lindsay, Sadie, Volchok, Henri-Michel, Rebecca Bloom, DJ, Theresa, Oliver and many other stupid characters would have burned in hell…or, never came on the show. LOL. Either way works for me.**

**Summary: Just what Ryan Atwood needed: being harassed in a grocery store by a presumably mentally unstable woman. RT. AU.**

**Oh my god! I am writing Ryan and Taylor. Yes, it's not a typo. No one seems to be interested in RM fics anymore, so I thought I'd give RT a go. This is in a way similar to my RM fic "My Worst Nightmare" but w/e. Enjoy and review like Ryan Atwoods' life depends on it.**

Traffic was a bitch. That Ryan Atwood knew. Being stuck in it every day of his driving life was not one of his favorite things to do. But he needed money. And money was in Newport Beach. Driving to and from Newport each day from Chino sucked. It was always way worse in the evenings. And it being the evening pissed Ryan off even more so than the fact his flat mate asked _him_ to buy _her_ tampons. Tampons. Tampons for the love of god!

"Come on," he muttered at the car in front of him. "The friggin' store is closing soon."

Finally the cars started to move and Ryan moved about 3 inches forward. "You've got to be kidding me." Ryan sighed in frustration and shrugged back in his seat.

* * *

"Well this blows." Taylor Townsend wandered around her local grocery store, carting a trolley in front of her. So far she had managed to get about…uh…nothing on her list.

Not looking where she was going, the rattled 23-year-old knocked into a cheese-tasting stand. The elderly woman behind it didn't fare so well. "Oh my god, sorry. I'm so sorry," Taylor exclaimed, kneeling down and helping the old lady pick up her cheese.

"It's fine dear, go on shopping, I can clean it up."

"You sure?" Taylor inquired.

"Of course." The old woman smiled sweetly at Taylor, but she swore she heard the old lady mutter not-so-sweet-nothings as Taylor walked away.

Brushing it off, Taylor continued stalking the store for the items on her list.

"Attention customers, we'll be closing in 10 minutes, please come to a check-out as soon as possible. Thank you." Taylor sighed as she heard the intercom.

* * *

"About time," Ryan breathed as the traffic began to move at a reasonable pace. Not too long later, he was in the grocery store going up and down all the isles, searching for tampons. He really had no clue where they were, or what they looked like.

Coming to a section that had pregnancy tests, he figured they couldn't be too far off.

Wandering slowly, he raised his eyebrows at the items on the shelfs.

"Excuse me, could you walk a little – or a lot – faster, please," an annoyingly fast voice ordered from behind. Ryan turned around and was face to face with a woman, presumably around his age.

"Sorry, yeah, sure," Ryan replied, flushing a bit. He continued on and stopped at a carton. "Vaginal thrush…hmm…" he pondered aloud, he then asked the lady behind him, "What would you use this for?"

She widened her eyes at him, "Come again?"

"Like, is this for…?"

"For what? Why the hell are you even in this section anyway you perv," she said.

"I'm not a perv, I just need to know what this is for."

"Uh, if you read the writing on the package, it says _vaginal thrush_. I don't know what you think it is, but I'm telling you, it's most probably not what you are looking for," she explained.

"Oh. Okay then, so could you maybe clarify what it is, so I don't have to stand in this isle much longer? I'm not really appreciating the awkward stares."

"What are you actually looking for? Or do you even know?"

"Tampons," Ryan muttered. His embarrassment caused the woman to laugh, "I feel sorry for your girlfriend, having _you_ as a partner…gosh…"

"She isn't my girlfriend, and I'm not that bad, thank you very much," Ryan argued.

"Sure, okay. Well, I'll leave you to your tampon hunting, I have face wipes to find." Ryan rolled his eyes as he watched her walk off.

* * *

Taylor came to the isle she was in search of. She approached the shelf and picked up toilet paper, tissues and face wipes. Taylor squinted at the items and tried to calculate how much it would cost.

"Excuse customers, please make your way to a check-out, as we are closing in a few minutes, thank you."

Taylor quickly threw the things into her trolley and moved down to another section of the store.

* * *

Ryan browsed the isle once more, and then finally gave up. "Uh, could you please help me out?"

The worker seemed mildly interested so he continued on, "I'm looking for a pack of tampons…" Ryan watched the person walk off.

"What is so fucking wrong with a man trying to find some bloody tampons!" He said, a little too loud. A woman and her young son stared at him in horror. Maybe _bloody_ wasn't an appropriate term to use.

He kept on looking and saw the lady from before – the one that had deserted him for face wipes.

She was looking at numerous small packages on a shelf; he approached her awkwardly and stood there until she registered him. "Oh. It's you again."

"Yep."

"Any reason why you are standing here?"

"Could you _please_ tell me where tampons are? Please!"

She snickered. "No luck yet huh?" Ryan gave her a look, which made her laugh harder. Ryan jumped in fright as she snorted through her amusement.

"You're standing right by them," she finally caught her bearings.

"What?! This is _them_? Here?"

"Yes," she replied slowly, like he was an idiot.

"Okay, so she wanted some heavy ones." Ryan began testing the weight of each box.

"You've got to be kidding me," the woman rolled her eyes.

"I think that may be what she is looking for." She pointed to one of the cartons.

"Thanks, I'll take your word for it." Ryan went to grab the box but was stopped by a soft hand on his.

"I don't think so, those are the ones I'm getting."

"Well get another one, because this is the one _I'm getting_."

"This is the last of this kind. Go tell your non-girlfriend not to send dim-witted man out to buy her tampons."

"First off, no. And second: I'm not dim-witted. Give them here." Ryan tugged at the box.

"Sexual harassment! Sexual harassment!"

"What the hell?" Ryan yelled. "I'm not doing anything to you."

"What's going on over here?" The stores security charged over, along with a huge crowd.

"This man is stealing my tampons," she accused.

Ryan started laughing, "You're not serious."

"Oh yes I am."

"You two, come with me." They got lead to a room secluded from the rest of the supermarket.

* * *

"Well thanks a lot."

Ryan rolled his eyes, "It's your fault. I wasn't the one yelling sexual harassment in a grocery store because I was having a fight over tampons…of all things."

"I take responsibility for that, but it's your fault we're in _here_." The small white room they were being held in reeked of new paint…and was not to mention, incredibly claustrophobic.

"Shut up."

"How very mature. What were you, like dropped on your head as a child?"

"No. What about you, Mrs. I-don't-speak-in-any-other-tone-than-this-incredibly-annoying-chirp."

"I'm sorry for being happy."

"So, little miss sunshine, what's your name? Ecstatic Emma?"

"Not even remotely funny." Ryan shrugged.

"Taylor."

"Ryan."

"It suits you," Taylor pointed out.

"Uh…thanks."

* * *

"All right, you guys can go. And Townsend, the next time you feel like accusing somebody of sexual conduct, please just keep your mouth shut, unless they are _actually_ doing something."

"Yes, okay, sorry. Thanks," Taylor replied.

Once outside, the closed grocery store, Ryan and Taylor stood and looked at each other.

"So neither of us got the tampons," Ryan pointed out with a smile.

"Looks like not." After an awkward silence Taylor asked, "So I'll see you around?"

"Uh, no, actually I only work around here, I live in…just somewhere else."

"Oh," Taylor looked down.

"But it was…an interesting experience meeting you," Ryan smirked.

Taylor smiled. "It certainly was."

"Do you maybe wanna grab a cup of coffee? The traffic will be an absolute nightmare at this time so…"

Taylor's smile widened to a grin. "I'd love too."

**Fin.**

**I know you'll be like "WTF? Carry on! This was pointless! Carry on!" but I was bored and felt like writing something small and simple…and pointless. It was pathetic and silly, but whatever. PLEASE ****R-E-V-I-E-W!!**** It isn't such a big ask, so please do. People have become really slack with reviews and it's incredibly frustrating. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this to one degree or another. **

**REVIEW GODAMMIT! LOL.**


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